Density integrating fuze head

ABSTRACT

A protective shield for an impact fuze that will permit penetration of foliage, rain, and other material without premature explosion. This protective shield is capable of discriminating between the ground and other material while permitting the firing device to retain its high impact sensitivity by providing a mesh like structure for protection against solid objects and drainage holes to protect against fluid build up. The invention described herein may be manufactured, used and licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

United States Patent [191 Lohninger et a1.

[ 1 Apr. 10, 1973 [54] DENSITY INTEGRATING FUZE HEAD [75] Inventors: Wilhelm J. Lohninger, Rockaway; Joseph J. Matt, Lake Mohawk, both of NJ.

[73] Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army [22] Filed: Nov. 23, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 91,740

[52] US. Cl. ..l02/73 R, 102/77 [51] Int. Cl. ..F42c 1/00 [58] Field of Search...

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,779,285 1/1957 Ku11er.... ..102/73 R 3,007,412 11/1961 Kipfer ..102/81 X 3,524,608 8/1970 Nicholson et a1. .....244/3.16 X 3,354,571 11/1967 Parker ..l02/39 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 441,417 3/1927 Germany ..102/73 R Primary ExaminerSarnuel W. Engle Att0rneyl-larry M. Saragovitz, .Edward J. Kelly and Herbert Berl [5 7 ABSTRACT A protective shield for an impact fuze that will permit penetration of foliage, rain, and other material without premature explosion. This protective shield is capable of discriminating between the ground and other material while permitting the firing device to retain its high impact sensitivity by providing a mesh like structure for protection against solid objects and drainage holes to protect against fluid build up.

The invention described herein may be manufactured, used and licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

1 Claim, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTED 3 726,228

SHEET 1 [IF 2 INVENTORS WILHELM J.LOHNINGER BY JOSEPH am ATTORNEYS PATENTED WK 1 01 75 sum 2 or 2 v INVENTORS WILHELM J-LOHNINGER BY JOSEPH J. MATT DENSITY INTEGRATING FUZE HEAD BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to fuzes and more particularly to a fuze of an explosive apparatus that is protected against premature detonation until it reachs the intended target.

In the art of fuzes, particularly fuzes associated with explosives, two principal methods are presently in wide use. In one, the impact responsive mechanism of the fuze can be activated if the nose of the shell strikes the target. In the other, it combines an impact fuze with a time delay device which detonates the explosive charge a finite time after the shell strikes the target. In the existing fuze mechanisms mentioned above, the detonating arrangements have failed to perform satisfactorily under tropical environmental conditions. This is chiefly due to premature firing caused by striking the foliage of the jungle canopy or the mass of leaves in areas of heavy undergrowth or by raindrops during a storm. As

a result, shells that strike the foliage would ineffectively explode in the mass of entangled leaves or overhead branches. In addition, existing fuzes are not rain-safe, since large rain drops, at a high striking velocity, can actuate the impact member of the fuze. Furthermore, especially in the case of small projectiles, it has not been possible to combine a desired high sensitivity to impact against targets with sufficient safety against initiation by impact against foliage and rain drops.

In summary, the existing fuzes are seriously limited in their application to jungle warfare and for all practicable purposes, the armed forces have only two alternatives when considering the type of shell to be used. They may select either the instant impact or the instant impact combined with a time delay. The instant impact shell upon hitting an obstacle in its trajectory whether it is a cushion of air or the ground is detonated in the following manner; a closing disc is ruptured and a firing pin assembly presses against a detonator assembly, detonating the round. When employing the time delay mode, detonation occurs at a fixed time interval after initiation of the detonator. In both cases, the sensitivity of the fuze is controlled by a small crush cup and at the present time it is sufficiently sensitive to limit use during arain storm or the bombardment of a tract of wooded land. Furthermore, a high degree of sensitivity is necessary and vital so that the round does not bury itself in soft material such as mud or soft soil.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved fuze of the impact type which is capable of discriminating between foliage, rain drops, air impact and other environmental conditions in order to carry out its mission.

Another object of this invention is to provide a fuze in which ignition is achieved by means of a displacement effected by the intended target.

Still another object is to provide a novel and improved fuze which allows a much wider latitude with respect to targets located under foliage and permits bombardment during rain storms.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a fuze arming mechanism which will reliably eliminate malfunctions due to premature firing pin actuation.

Still a further object is to provide a novel and improved fuze which will initiate the detonation of the projectile when it strikes the target rather than exploding in the foliage above the target.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational top view of the Density Integrating Fuze constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the device taken on line 22 of FIG. 1 with the various segments in position;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view partly in section of FIG. 1' showing further detail of construction;

FIGS., 4 through 7 are views of the fuze in an environmental setting.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, fuze 10 is formed of a hollow cylindrical base portion 12 capped by a conically shaped nose end 16. The base portion 12 is drilled and tapped at one end 14 so that it may be secured in the fuze proper. The cylindrical base portion 12 and the mechanism contained therein are conventional and although not an object of this invention, will be discussed and numerically referenced for purposes of clarity.

The fuze body 10 has an irregularly shaped passageway formed therein by a series of bores which extend from the threaded end of the fuze body 10 through the truncated conical nose end portion 16. The passageway is composed of a series of axially communicating bores to provide a continuous, central passageway of varying diameter through the fuze body 10: a threaded bore 14, reduced central threaded bore 18, cylindrical bore 20, a reduced cylindrical bore 22, an enlarged cylindrical bore 24 and a further enlarged cylindrical bore 26 in the conical nose end portion of the fuze-body 10. The interior of the enlarged cylindrical bore 26 is open to the atmosphere at the nose end of the fuze. Within the enlarged cylindrical portion 26 of the fuze body 10 are mounted, spaced, radial hinge pins 28. These members are of an elongated strand shape, and extending transversely from their corresponding journal supports 30. The pins 28 are mounted in such a manner that their axial planes, normal to the longitudinal axis of the enlarged cylindrical bore 26, are parallel. The spacing is arranged so that the axial plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of the enlarged cylindrical base 26 of each pin subtends an angle of about 45 with the corresponding axial plane of each contiguous pin. The pins 28 can be made from any suitable material or shape that will form a protective sieve.

In a typical fuze as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the device is provided with suitable radial apertures 32 communicating with the enlarged cylindrical bore 26 to permit the escape of water and prevent the build-up of air pockets within the cylindrical bore 26. The closing disc 34 and washer 36 are secured at the bottom portion of the cylindrical bore 26 and positioned below the apertures 32. A crush cup 38 is positioned in the bore 24 contiguous with the closing disc 34 and the washer 36. The detonator pin 40, which is appropriately housed in the casing, positioned in the cylindrical bore 24, is mounted on an partially penetrates the crush cup 38. The detonator pin 40 is a weighted, cylindrical body having a double flange formed at one end which is axially positioned on the crush cup 38.

In operation, a conventional fuze of the impact variety detonates when hitting or striking an obstacle in its trajectory. Obstacles such as leaves, foliage or rain drops generate sufficient force to rupture the closing disc 34, collapse the crush cup 38 and force the bottom portion of the detonator pin 40 through bore 22 into bore thereby initiating explosion of the round. This type of conventional round can neither penetrate the jungle canopy nor pass through a heavy rainstorm accompanied with high wind and still detonate on impact in the mud or soft soil. Detonation with the conventional round occurs when it hits the canopy of the jungle or the heavy foliage protecting the intended target or when it strikes an excessive shield of water or air.

It has now been discovered that in order to secure the most effective results from such explosive shells especially when they are used in a tropical area and directed toward a densely wooded jungle or during a rain storm is to provide a shell with a fuze whose nose portion has a hollow cavity containing a barrier-like grid. When the shell is discharged from the gun, tests have shown that it will maintain axial alignment during the flight; the inrush of air or water into the cavity area dissipates and escapes through the radial apertures placed around the circumference of the conical cylinder at the base of the cavity. Upon striking thejungle canopy the obstacles that are encountered by the round are hit by the circular edge of the cavity or the radial hinge pins within the cavity and not by the closing disc thus activation is prevented. Small fragments or parts of leaves and thin branches are punched out by the edge of the cavity and forced into it encountering and striking the radial pins which prevent rupture of the closing disc. When the round penetrates the jungle canopy, hits the ground, the nose cavity is instantaneously filled with mud, soft soil and debris pressing inwards, and actuating the detonator.

This invention presents a fuze shield that is able to discriminate between foliage and the ground and yet retain its high impact sensitivity. The configurations and arrangements shown of the radial pins and radial holes are only one example of this invention. This design can be altered into similar configurations and arrangements by the use of slots instead of holes or thin perpendicularly arranged partitioning walls instead of radial pins.

We wish it to be understood that we do not desire to be limited to the exact detail of construction shown and described for obvious modification will occur to a person skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. An impact sensitive fuze for explosive missiles comprising:

a truncated conically shaped body having an axial bore;

said body having a plurality of apertures in its base extending transversally of said axial bore and communicating with said bore;

means for detonating said missile secured to the base of said conical body;

closure means mounted in said bore intermediate said apertures and said detonating means;

plurality of elongated strand shape members mounted in said body and extending transversally across said bore, said strand shape members defining a protective sieve, each of said members being positioned independentl of said detonating means, for abutment with confronted ob ects suc that their axial planes normal to the longitudinal axis of said bore are parallel and so that the axial plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of said bore of each of said members subtends an angle of approximately 5 to 45 with the corresponding axial plane of each contiguous member; and wherein said apertures are sufficient to permit escape of air and water such as to prevent the buildup of pressure in said bore capable of activating said detonating means.

it n: =0 e a 

1. An impact sensitive fuze for explosive missiles comprising: a truncated conically shaped body having an axial bore; said body having a plurality of apertures in its base extending transversally of said axial bore and communicating with said bore; means for detonating said missile secured to the base of said conical body; closure means mounted in said bore intermediate said apertures and said detonating means; a plurality of elongated strand shape members mounted in said body and extending transversally across said bore, said strand shape members defining a protective sieve, each of said members being positioned independently of said detonating means, for abutment with confronted objects such that their axial planes normal to the longitudinal axis of said bore are parallel and so that the axial plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of said bore of each of said members subtends an angle of approximately 5* to 45* with the corresponding axial plane of each contiguous member; and wherein said apertures are sufficient to permit escape of air and water such as to prevent the buildup of pressure in said bore capable of activating said detonating means. 